Case



J. P. REIS June 23, 1953 CASE Filed Jan. 2, 1951 JNVENTOR. JOHN P. R215 XJUAJ.

ATTORNLY Patented June 23, 1953 CASE John P. Reis, Sturgeon Bay, Wis., assignor to Amity Leather Products 00., West Bend, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application January 2, 1951, Serial No. 203,843

1 Claim.

a pocket on the inner face of the billfold. With such an arrangement the case will not remain closed when the billfold is open. In addition, the additional flap and snap fasteners make the case unduly thick and cumbersome and consequently the billfold will 1101; fold properly.

' It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a case which without the use of a flap and snap fastener will remain open or closed as desired.

Another object of this invention is to provide a case'which is relatively thin and may be easily fitted in a billfold without unduly increasing the thickness of the billfold or hindering the folding thereof. I

Still another object of this invention is to provide a case of this type which when fitted in a billfold may be left closed as the billfold is opened, opened at the same time the billfold is opened, and closed at the same time the billfold is closed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a case of this type having card-receiving transparent pockets which may be readily replaced.

These objects are obtained by employing a spring action hinge which resiliently urges and holds the covers of the case to closed position and also resiliently holds such-covers in open position. The hinge may include a tubular pintle having extending portions forming a mounting for the transparent pockets. Such pockets may be removably held on the pintle by plastic snap rings, spiral springs, or U shaped springs. In the case of the latter one leg of each spring is'inserted into the tubular member and the other leg presses on a flexible binding for such pockets.

The novel features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a case embodying the present invention shown with the cover in closed position and with parts broken away for the sake of clarity in illustration;

Fig. 2 is a view in plan elevation of the case viewed in'Fig. 1 with the covers in open position;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view similar to that of Fig. 3 but showing the covers of the case in open position;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a billfold having the case viewed in Fig. I mounted in a pocket thereof; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a modification of the means of mounting the envelopes within the case.

The case shown in the drawing has a piece of leather or leather-like material folded about a central transverse line I0 to form covers I2 and [4 which may be folded with respect to each other into the closed position of Fig. 1 or the open position of Fig. 2. A centrally positioned longitudinally extending strip I5 is stitched or secured to the outer surface of the case to form pockets I8 and 20 extending equi-distantly oppositely from the transverse center line In. These pockets slidably receive leaves 22 and 24 of a snap action hinge whereby the action of the hinge is transferred to such covers.

The snap action hinge either resiliently holds and presses the covers together when in the closed position of Fig. 1, or resiliently holds such covers in the open position of Fig. 2. As the covers are manually swung over a dead center position (approximately at forty-five degrees apart) the snap action hinge will operate to resiliently urge the covers toward either side of such dead center position. The snap action hingeincludes a spring 26 formed integral with the leaf 22. This spring resiliently engages with a cam 28 mounted on barrels 30 of the leaf 24. The leaves 22 and 24 are pivotally interconnected by a tubular pintle 32 which passes loosely through the barrels 30 and barrels 34 provided on the leaf 22. As the covers l2 and M are moved apart from the closed position shown in Fig. 3, the cam 28 will resiliently deflect the spring 26 until the cam 28 hits dead center. Dead center is reached when the plane of the spring 26 is substantially tangent to the cam 28 with respect to the center of the pintle 32. Thereafter the spring 26 will force the cam 28 and the leaf 24 in a counterclockwise rotation as viewed in Figs. 3 and 4 and resiliently urge the covers [2 and I4 toward open position. While the snap action hinge does not fully open the covers, it does not hinder them from further opening movement after the spring action has become ineffective. Upon clockwise movement of the covers from open position toward closed position, the snap action hinge will resist closing until such dead center is reached and thereafter will snap the covers together and hold the case closed.

In order that the pintle 32 may readily act as the mounting for the card-carrying envelopes, it is desirable that it have extending portions positioned inwardly of the inner face of the case. To accomplish this a hole 35 is provided in the material of the case at the central transverse line l through which the barrels 30 and 34 project inwardly of the covers. The pintle 32 is longer than need be for the function of hingedly interconnecting the leaves 22 and 24. It extends outwardly beyond the barrels 34 almost to the sides of the covers l2 and M to form extending portions to which transparent envelopes 36 are swingably mounted. The envelopes are of Wellknown construction and have their unhinged ends open to receive identification cards, passes, drivers licenses, etc. which are frictionally held within the envelopes.

There are several ways of 'swingably securing the envelopes to the extending portions of the pintle 32. In the exemplification shown in Fig. 2, two sets of ribbon-like snap-acting plastic ring binders 38 loosely fit over such portions and pass freely through holes 40 cut in the inner end of the envelopes. As there is a set of rings 38 on opposite sides of the barrels 34, the envelopes will be held against any substantially side-wise displacement. In the modification shown in Fig. 6, a pair of spiral springs 42 of customary design are substituted for the rings 38. The spiral springs pass through a series of holes in the inner end of the envelopes and loosely surround the pintle 32. In both these types of mountings it is preferable to notch the envelopes at 49 so that the envelopes will adequately clear the barrels 30 and 34 and the cam 28 as they swing about the pintle.

One method of assembling the case and envelopes is to first place the leaves 22 and 24 in their respective pockets l8 and 20 with the barrels substantially alined. Next the envelopes 36 with the rings 38 or the spiral springs 42 are placed within the case with the axial openings of the rings or spiral springs in substantial alinement with the openings in the barrels. Finally the pintle 32 is inserted from the side of the case through the rings or spirals and barrels. The friction generated from the pressure of the spring 28 will maintain the pintle in its proper place.

In Fig. there is illustrated the manner in which the case is mounted within a billfold 59 of usual design. The billfold 50 has a pocket 52 which opens adjacent the central transverse fold line of the billfold and extends for substantially the full length of one-half of such billfold. To secure the case within the billfold,

the covers 12 and H are swung to the open position and the cover I2 inserted endwise into the pocket 52 to the position shown in Fig. 5. Thereafter the cover M is snapped to the closed position. The case will be held in place by the frictional engagement between the cover l2 and the pocket 52. When the case is closed the covers I2 and I will in addition frictionally engage the wall of the pocket 52. If it is desired to utilize the case, the user manually engages the cover H at the time the billfold is opened and the cover M will be swung to the open position shown in Fig. 5 and held there while the contents of the envelopes 36 are inspected. Upon closing the billfold the case is also automatically closed. The billfold may at any time be unfolded without openin the case.

Although only several embodiments of the invention are shown and described herein, it will be understood that this application is intended to cover such other changes or modifications as come within the spirit of the invention or scope of the following claim.

I claim:

In a case, a piece of flexible material folded about a transverse center line to .form a pair of covers sw-ingable toward and away from each other, a pocket carried by each cover and having an opening to the interior of said case adjacent said center line, said pockets extending from said transverse center line outwardly toward the ends of said covers, a snap action hinge for said case having leaves, one of each of said leaves being fitted in one of each of said pockets and projecting outwardly through said opening, the inner ends of said leaves having axially alined barrels, a pintle mounted in said barrels to pivotally interconnect said leaves, a spring carried by one of said leaves, a cam carried by the other of said leaves, said cam being engageable with said spring in the closed position of said covers to urge said leaves toward each other, said cam upon opening of said covers passing through 'a dead center relationship with said spring and thereupon engageable with said spring to urge said leaves apart, said pintle having portions extending outwardly beyondsaid barrels almost to the sides of said covers to form pivotal supports for an envelope, and an envelope swingedly mounted between said covers on said pivotal supports.

JOHN P. REIS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,679,807 Bohl Aug. 7, 1928 1,694,186 LEnfant Dec. 4, 1928 1,933,115 Jacobsen Oct. 31, 1933 2,031,773 Halperin Feb. 25, 1936 2,419,092 Schupbach et al. Apr. 15, 1947 2,455,515 Miller Dec. 7, 1948 2,480,484 Krause Aug. 30, 1949 2,540,422 Broughton Feb. 6, 1951 

